A.Rafay
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ISLAMABAD:
President Asif Ali Zardari and his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Mursi are likely to hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the upcoming Developing-8 (D-8) summit in Islamabad on November 22.
A D-8 charter is to be adopted at the summit along with an Islamabad Declaration, a highly-placed official source said. Significantly, the D-8 charter will put in place an approved policy framework for the group 15 years after its establishment in 1997 in Turkey.
The framework will be announced after the eight heads of state and government deliberate means to improve multilateral and bilateral ties to boost their economies.
The Egyptian presidents meeting with Zardari will be extremely momentous for both countries, the source said. Mursi will be the first leader of Egypt to visit Pakistan in 37 years. In 1974, President Sadat visited Pakistan to attend the second summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Lahore, hosted by the then prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Mursi is not the only leader President Zardari will be meeting on the sidelines of the summit. Another bilateral meeting on the cards is between the leaders of Pakistan and Turkey.
The prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, is also expected to attend the summit, an official in the ministry of foreign affairs told The Express Tribune. We have received signals from Dhaka that she will arrive in Pakistan to attend the meeting, he said.
According to Foreign Office spokesperson Moazzam Ali Khan, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar will soon visit the Bangladeshi capital as President Zardaris special envoy to extend an invitation to Hasina.
Khar was scheduled to pay an official visit to Dhaka on October 25 but the plan was postponed due to some unavoidable reason at the eleventh hour.
The spokesperson dismissed reports that Khar had to postpone her visit after Islamabad came to know that the Bangladeshi prime minister was not willing to attend the D-8 summit. There is no truth in such reports, he said, adding that there was no political reason for the postponement of Khars visit.
A Foreign Office source said that Khars visit will be highly important in itself, as it will be the first high-level visit by any Pakistani official since the Awami League-led grand alliance came to power around four years ago.
Dhaka-Islamabad bilateral engagement in the last four years has been limited to the visit of Bangladeshs education and commerce ministers to Islamabad after foreign secretary-level official consultations in November, 2010.
Islamabad has already received confirmations that the presidents of Iran and Malaysia and the vice-president of Indonesia will attend the summit. Confirmation from Nigeria is also expected soon, the official said.
Formal invitations to the countries that constitute the D-8 group Bangladesh, Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Nigeria were delivered by Pakistan around two months ago.
In keeping with diplomatic norms, the foreign minister, as well as the State Minister for Foreign Affairs Malik Hammad Khan, were assigned to visit the capitals as special envoys to extend the invitations.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/461954/d-8-summit-mursi-to-make-historic-trip-to-islamabad-this-month/
President Asif Ali Zardari and his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Mursi are likely to hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the upcoming Developing-8 (D-8) summit in Islamabad on November 22.
A D-8 charter is to be adopted at the summit along with an Islamabad Declaration, a highly-placed official source said. Significantly, the D-8 charter will put in place an approved policy framework for the group 15 years after its establishment in 1997 in Turkey.
The framework will be announced after the eight heads of state and government deliberate means to improve multilateral and bilateral ties to boost their economies.
The Egyptian presidents meeting with Zardari will be extremely momentous for both countries, the source said. Mursi will be the first leader of Egypt to visit Pakistan in 37 years. In 1974, President Sadat visited Pakistan to attend the second summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Lahore, hosted by the then prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Mursi is not the only leader President Zardari will be meeting on the sidelines of the summit. Another bilateral meeting on the cards is between the leaders of Pakistan and Turkey.
The prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, is also expected to attend the summit, an official in the ministry of foreign affairs told The Express Tribune. We have received signals from Dhaka that she will arrive in Pakistan to attend the meeting, he said.
According to Foreign Office spokesperson Moazzam Ali Khan, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar will soon visit the Bangladeshi capital as President Zardaris special envoy to extend an invitation to Hasina.
Khar was scheduled to pay an official visit to Dhaka on October 25 but the plan was postponed due to some unavoidable reason at the eleventh hour.
The spokesperson dismissed reports that Khar had to postpone her visit after Islamabad came to know that the Bangladeshi prime minister was not willing to attend the D-8 summit. There is no truth in such reports, he said, adding that there was no political reason for the postponement of Khars visit.
A Foreign Office source said that Khars visit will be highly important in itself, as it will be the first high-level visit by any Pakistani official since the Awami League-led grand alliance came to power around four years ago.
Dhaka-Islamabad bilateral engagement in the last four years has been limited to the visit of Bangladeshs education and commerce ministers to Islamabad after foreign secretary-level official consultations in November, 2010.
Islamabad has already received confirmations that the presidents of Iran and Malaysia and the vice-president of Indonesia will attend the summit. Confirmation from Nigeria is also expected soon, the official said.
Formal invitations to the countries that constitute the D-8 group Bangladesh, Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Nigeria were delivered by Pakistan around two months ago.
In keeping with diplomatic norms, the foreign minister, as well as the State Minister for Foreign Affairs Malik Hammad Khan, were assigned to visit the capitals as special envoys to extend the invitations.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/461954/d-8-summit-mursi-to-make-historic-trip-to-islamabad-this-month/
